I bought a 93 low miles rust free lightning for a new body for my slightly rusty 96 f150. Here is my dilemma, I am going to use the low miles lightning motor to replace my high miles Windsor. Since I am using the entire cab from the lightning it should be simple plug and play wiring (both trucks have e4od) but since my truck has MAF should I retain my intake instead of the gt40 one on the lightning?

 

The 93 has OBDI right? And the 96 has OBDII?

 

No, the intake has nothing to do with it besides connector types which could be slightly different on the throttlebody, and the GT40 intake is definitely a big step up from the standard truck intake so that's the one you want to use. However your OBD2 EFI system as a few unique parts on it that you will have to transfer to the Lightning motor, those being the DPFE EGR system and the crank misfire sensor. The crank sensor parts will bolt right on but the EGR is gonna be a challenge since the TB is in a different location on the L motor so the DPFE tube won't fit so you may have to fabricate something or disable it with a tuner.

 

That sort of answers my question, if I am going to stay with the obd1, and gt40 intake I will use all of the harness, including ecu from the lightning.

 

That was the point of my question. There are just certain things that have to be swapped in order to use one or the other.

 

Yes, but I was wondering if keeping the mass air flow, over the speed density system would be worth the time, and effort.

 

I think it would be.

 

In this case I'd have to say using the MAF system you have wouldn't be worth the effort because of the complexity of making it work on the older motor and because you also have a complete EFI system that was built for that L motor. If it was another situation where you only had the L motor without any of the wiring or computer then my answer would be different.

 

Id just spend the extra time and money now to do the mass air swap that way in the future if you want to do more engine modifications you can

 

Not trying to sound judgemental, but why would you take the Lightning body off the Lightning frame, along with the Lightning motor, and put it on your 96 frame? Is your frame in better condition than the low mileage 93 frame? Maybe I'm just missing something, but I would rather keep the Lighning intact and cannibalize parts from the 96 to update the Lightning. That's just me though.

 

I agree with this. If the 96 was crusty and I had a clean Lightning, I would either leave the 96 as is for a daily driver while using the Lightning as a weekend warrior/summer truck, or I would sell or scrap the 96 and just run the Lightning.

 

Unless its wrecked or something along those lines, I vote for keeping the Lightning complete. Even then, use the 96 to repair the L.

 

I guess I did miss something. The 96 is a 4wd per the thread title. Still, I would keep the Lightning and find another donor truck body. You can buy a reman crate motor and replace the high mileage one you have now.

 

I really love those lightning and would keep that if it had no rust personally. I never really look at the mileage on these engines, instead of replacing I would pull the 96 and rebuild it. Again that's just my opinion. Is the engine having issues in the 96?

 

I'd like to agree with that too. Lightnings are hard enough to come by. Its like destroying an earlier 90s sho. -shudders-